South Lenoir travels to North Lenoir to renew rivalry

Published: Thursday, October 24, 2013 at 10:51 PM.

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North Lenoir and South Lenoir will vie for the Pigskin Classic Braggin’ Bowl for the 30th time tonight in Wheat Swamp. For the two teams, though, it will be the 50th time the cross-county rivals will face off on the gridiron.

North Lenoir leads the overall series, 32-17.

Records can be thrown out for this rivalry game, which is a good thing, because both teams — conference foes for the first time since 2004 — will meet after starting their Eastern Carolina 2A slates 0-2.

South Lenoir’s losses, while not close after the first quarter, came against a formidable Goldsboro team and a recharged group from Ayden-Grifton that could challenge for the league title.

The Hawks stuck around with Kinston during Week 1 of the EC2A schedule but were embarrassed last week by Greene Central, which broke a 16-game losing streak by beating up on the Hawks, 48-8.

The Hawks have won three straight in the series and 12 of the last 15, including a 35-6 victory last year — the second-largest margin of victory for North Lenoir in its 32 victories against South Lenoir.

North Lenoir and South Lenoir will vie for the Pigskin Classic Braggin’ Bowl for the 30th time tonight in Wheat Swamp. For the two teams, though, it will be the 50th time the cross-county rivals will face off on the gridiron.

North Lenoir leads the overall series, 32-17.

Records can be thrown out for this rivalry game, which is a good thing, because both teams — conference foes for the first time since 2004 — will meet after starting their Eastern Carolina 2A slates 0-2.

South Lenoir’s losses, while not close after the first quarter, came against a formidable Goldsboro team and a recharged group from Ayden-Grifton that could challenge for the league title.

The Hawks stuck around with Kinston during Week 1 of the EC2A schedule but were embarrassed last week by Greene Central, which broke a 16-game losing streak by beating up on the Hawks, 48-8.

The Hawks have won three straight in the series and 12 of the last 15, including a 35-6 victory last year — the second-largest margin of victory for North Lenoir in its 32 victories against South Lenoir.

Hawks coach Calvin Sutton said he’ll be putting a young team on the field against South Lenoir. Last week, the team only dressed 20 players and had three linemen called up from junior varsity.

“We’ve had to play a lot of young guys,” he said. “I’m not going to try and do too much, but we’ve got to be our best at what we are able to do.”

Sutton, who is 7-1 as a player and a coach against South Lenoir, said this game has a special place for him.

“I never lost to them as a player,” he said. “It’s a big rivalry, it’s something that alumni still feel and something our players feel right now. You want to win to get a ‘W’ and bragging rights.”

Ken Grantham is no stranger to big games against North Lenoir. But the former Greene Central coach will be making his Braggin’ Bowl debut in Columbia Blue tonight.

“I think there are some similarities between the two teams and I think that’s going to make it a very interesting Friday night,” he said. “Both teams can use this game as a springboard into the rest of the season.”

This is a rivalry not known for its offense. Over the last 20 matchups, with the exception of a 90-combined point barnburner in 2002 and a 28-25 game in 2011, at least one team has failed to score more than 14 points. Neither team has lit up the scoreboard this season so expect the trend to continue, with North Lenoir focused after a disappointing, should’ve-been-a-W loss last week.

Justin Hill’s pick: North Lenoir 23, South Lenoir 12

Bryan Hanks’ pick: North Lenoir 34, South Lenoir 32

Greene Central at Kinston

The Rams just missed out on a Week 1 victory against Ayden-Grifton — to what Free Press correspondent Keith Spence wrote was “atrocious clock mismanagement by the officiating crew that would have made the NFL replacement refs hide in shame.”

It’s hard to imagine that the Rams have turned on a switch after a 16-game losing streak just by throttling a decimated Hawk lineup last week, but coach Allen Wooten has his team tied for third place in the EC2A, with the ability to talk about the what-ifs at the end of that first conference loss.

Kinston won a big game last week against Goldsboro, defeating the Cougars 21-7, which could potentially be the difference in first and second place in the EC2A.

While Kinston let North Lenoir hang around a little longer than they wanted to during its opening week conference game, they still picked up an easy, albeit not commanding, victory. The trick for the Vikings is not to fall into a trap, which Greene Central took advantage of last week against North Lenoir.

With things seemingly clicking in Snow Hill, is Greene Central going to able to march into Kinston and topple the preseason conference favorites? No. But Kinston still has to get better offensively.

Justin’s pick: Kinston 34, Greene Central 14

Bryan’s pick: Kinston 28, Greene Central 7

Ayden-Grifton at Goldsboro

After an 0-6 start, Ayden-Grifton is tied atop the EC2A rankings with Kinston. And in the reality that is N.C. high school sports, that’s all that really matters.

The Chargers overcame a sloppy first quarter against South Lenoir last week, but were able to put up 37 unanswered points — including the first kickoff returned for a touchdown this correspondent has witnessed in 10 years of covering high school football.

Goldsboro looked equally good against the Blue Devils. Just like the Chargers, they struggled early on but made adjustments to easily pick up the win.

These two teams last played in the Carolina 1A championship game last season, which Goldsboro won 30-25. The Cougars are 3-1 in the last four years against A-G, with the Chargers’ lone victory coming with a 42-18 decision two years ago.

I think the Chargers come out of the gate stale once again — something they’ve struggled with in both of their conference games. But then they’ll settle down to focus on moving the ball with the one-two punch of R.J. Nelson and Drew Turnage.

Goldsboro’s passing attack will be a difference-maker early on and then the Cougars will hand the ball off to Rashied Malette — who could be the best back in the league — to close this one out in what should be the best contest of the night.

An interesting nugget: In Goldsboro’s three wins against Southern Wayne, C.B. Aycock and South Lenoir, the Cougars have scored 41, 40 and 48 points, respectively. In the Cougars’ five losses, they’ve averaged only 11 points a game. Getting their offense on track will be key for them tonight.

Justin’s pick: Goldsboro 42, Ayden-Grifton 34

Bryan’s pick: Goldsboro 28, Ayden-Grifton 14

Jones Senior at Pinetown Northside

Trojans coach Jon Davis took a big risk once again this season scheduling one of the toughest non-conference slates in North Carolina. The gamble paid off for him two years ago when his team learned from the early season struggles and blew through the back half of the conference schedule on its way to a trip to the NCHSAA 1A championship game.

This year it looks like his conference slate isn’t quite as friendly.

After a narrow loss last week against Chocowinity Southside, several could- and should-win games left on the calendar are shaping up to be don’t-get-embarrassed-games.

Northside is 4-4 on the season and has defeated Southside — which it played both in and out of conference this season — twice. Southside defeated the Trojans last week, 38-34.

It’s hard to pull against the Trojans and last week’s narrow loss, after seven blowouts to start the season, could be the spark they needed. Or it could’ve been the final surge to a forgettable season.

One positive, though: the 34 points Jones Senior scored against Southside last week were nearly as much as the Trojans had scored in its first seven games combined — 45.

Justin’s pick: Pinetown Northside 21, Jones Senior 6

Bryan’s pick: Pinetown Northside 34, Jones Senior 21

Arendell Parrott at Hobgood

Parrott travels to Hobgood to face the 7-1 Raiders.

Hobgood is second in the conference and have put up points all season, including a league-leading 525 through eight games.

While the Patriots opened up the season hot, they have cooled in recent weeks, including a one-point loss to Halifax last week and a 64-0 thumping by Rocky Mount the week before.

The fact the Raiders put up 72 points against the Eagles earlier in the season may not be a good sign for the Patriots offense that hasn’t scored more than 40 points in its last 5 games and only twice all season.

The Patriots will get on the board to avoid a second shutout in three weeks, but it won’t be enough to overcome Hobgood.

Justin’s pick: Hobgood 65, Parrott 35

Bryan’s pick: Hobgood 63, Parrott 22

The Free Press Football Show

On this week’s show, taped live at Lovick’s Café in downtown Kinston, Bryan Hanks and Justin Hill welcome legendary coach Jimmy Smith to the show to talk about the 50th edition of the North Lenoir-South Lenoir football game. Bryan and Justin also preview all of today’s games. You can access the show by visiting Kinston.com and scrolling down to Web Exclusives or by searching for ‘Free Press Football Show’ on the site.